Loop Life:
Water Wanderers
By Margaret Briller
Northeast Ohio’s Tim and Karen Bartel decided early in life to retire by age 55, and did everything possible to make that happen.
Their dream was to complete the Great Loop on their 52-foot Bluewater yacht, Let It Ride. The Great Loop is a continuous waterway of about 6,000 miles traveled by about 150 people annually. The route includes part of the Atlantic and Gulf intracoastal waterways, the Great Lakes, Canadian Heritage Canals, and the inland rivers of America’s heartland. Anyone who completes the journey is considered a “Looper.”
“Retirement could mean doing nothing or traveling in an RV,” says Tim Bartel. “When I was 13, I met a man at the yacht club who had completed the Great Loop, but it wasn’t called that then. I’ve wanted to do the Loop ever since.”
The Bartels are Platinum Loopers, meaning they have completed the Loop more than once. They live on Let it Ride in Naples, Florida, during the winter. They spend their summers on their other boat in Fairport Harbor on Lake Erie.
Tim and Debbie Gibbs, Gold Loopers who have completed the Great Loop Adventure once so far, took a similar path.
“We reviewed our situation with our financial advisor and determined that we were able to retire at the ages of 62 and 58, so that we could enjoy traveling while we still had the physical capacity to do so,” says Debbie Gibbs. “We had no issues with being mentally prepared for retirement. We were ready, willing and able.”
The Great Loop was a natural for these Northeast Ohio boaters.
“As lifelong sailboat racers, we knew we wanted to travel by water,” Tim Gibbs says. “We made the switch to a trawler because of the fuel efficiency, space and living arrangements. We’re now able to experience so much of the diversity of our wonderful country and parts of Canada while living on our trawler with our Yorkshire Terrier, Ellie. We made lifelong friends with whom we continue to visit and stay in touch with.”
Photo: Tim and Debbie Gibbs
